What continues hot for the 6th straight week is trolling for Mackinaw on the Lake Chelan “Bar”. Also heating up is trolling for Sockeye Salmon below Wells Dam on the Columbia. We are continuing to troll for those Lakers in depths of 120 to 150 feet on the Bar just out from the Mill Bay boat launch. This pattern has worked for six weeks! Considering the unusual June and July weather, that is truly amazing! We have had consistent success pulling T4 and U20 flatfish in Purple Glow at 1.2 to 1.5 mph. Mack’s Lures Cha Cha Squidders in glow colors with a purple blade also worked fine. Additionally Silver Horde’s Ace Hi Fly in glow colors baited with a strip of Northern Pikeminnow also worked great. Don’t forget that you can add an Action Disk from Wigglefin.com to give all those squid rigs a bit of a different action. Big Smile Blades from Mack’s Lures are another fine choice. Although early and late in the day continue to be best, we have caught nice numbers of fish throughout the day. Salmon fishing has begun to heat up below Wells Dam although the Brewster Pool continues to be thin. The majority of the fish being caught below are delicious Sockeye. You can catch them by pulling Mack’s mini-Cha Cha Squidders baited with Pautzke Fire Cured Shrimp behind a 0 chrome or chrome scale dodger. Your fishing tip of the week is to remember etiquette when fishing below Wells Dam. It is a dense fishery with loads of current. Playing bumper boats is considered poor manners. Keep your setbacks very short. No more than 30 feet. Usually, 15 to 20 feet will work fine. Signal you intentions clearly to boats heading your way. Try not to weave. With the incredible amount of water being pushed down the Columbia, boat control can be difficult and tempers can flare. Your kids tip of the week is to remember that the vast majority of annoying misbehaviors by school age children are attention getting mechanisms. Try to use redirection instead of correction whenever possible to steer behavior in the correct direction. More importantly give those kids legitimate avenues for attention. I know, we are all busy. That undivided attention (right, without texting or reading emails) is an important investment. Your safety tip of the week is to pay close attention to fire safety now. Even though it’s been wet, we are moving into that late summer window where the fire danger becomes the greatest.
Anton Jones of Darrell & Dad's Family Guide Service (http://www.darrellanddads.com/ or (1-866-360-1523)
Pictured: 7/19/11 - The Evans and Ferguson parties with their pile of 32 Mackinaw from a two boat morning half day trip.
Also Pictured: 7/23/11 Keith Sims of Kirkland, WA with son Max (11) of Berlin, Germany and their mornings catch of Mackinaw. Max was getting ready to go back to Germany. They fished with friend Bob Uptagrafft of Everett (not pictured). Deckhand Jaime Abaraca helped them hold the fish up.
